Catalogue - Metropolitan Museum of Art

60
This type of cauldron, with upright
handles and conical hollow foot,
frequently appears in Scythian graves.
It is known earlier in China and Siberia.
Both the body and the decoration are cast.
Cauldron with two handles and slim foot,
and relief ornament of bulls' heads,
palmettes, and triangles. Bronze, height
47 cm. (18/2 in.).
Scythian culture, beginning of the 4th
century B.C. Dnieper river region, Kherson
district, Raskopana kurgan. Excavations
of D. J. Evarnitsky, 1897. Hermitage,
Dn 1897, 2/14.
Artamonov, Splendor, fig. 21.
61 (Color plate 9)
This helmet was probably worn over a
lining of colorful felt or fur, against which
the golden openwork would have
gleamed sumptuously. The flowers are
shown in a rare three-quarter view, and
the heavy scrolls contrast with the delicate
acanthus leaves and the diminutive
scrollwork in the lower zone.
Openwork helmet decorated with scrolls,
acanthus, and flowers. Gold, height 14.4 cm.
(5% in.).
Greek workmanship, 4th century B.C.
Crimea, near Kerch, kurgan on Cape
Ak-Burun. Excavations, 1875. Hermitage,
AkB 28.
Artamonov, Splendor, pl. 272.
62
In the first millennium B.C., the Egyptian
god Bes begins to occur with some
frequency in Near Eastern art. Generally
beneficent, he was considered a protective
and lucky divinity for women in
childbirth.
The Egyptian deity Bes, amulet. Faience,
height 7.8 cm. (3/i6 in.).
Egyptian, 6th-5th century B.C. Taman
peninsula, Great Bliznitsa kurgan, burial 4.
Excavations of A. E. Lyutsenko, 1868.
Hermitage, BB 190.
OAK 1869, p. 9, pl. I, 31.
62
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